♪ ♪ ♪ imus in the morning ♪ >> we've voted for you, now, help us out. good morning, everyone, that was from a detroit city council member. detroit runs out of money very

soon, this is a call, publicly, for an obama bailout. so, who is next? california, illinois, good question. raise tax rates on the rich or no deal. yeah, the line has been drawn again. president obama says america is poised to take off, but only if the republicans agree to tax the rich directly. he will only accept higher tax rates. how will speaker boehner respond to that? he speaks within the hour. and how about this, top anchors at a news network visit the white house for a cozy chat with the president. tell us, mr. president, how can we sell your tax the rich policy? citigroup, 11,000 jobs gone. "varney & company" about to begin. having you shipy gifts couldn't be easier.

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>> we'll begin with sad news. dame elizabeth mother of news corporation chairman and chief executive rupert murdoch died at

age 103. news point company fox. now sad news. and he's raised tax rates and he was elected based on his tax the rich policy. he says that america is poised to take off and if it doesn't, it's the republicans fault. listen. >> you have the u.s. chamber of commerce hardly an arm of my administration or the democratic party. i think, said the other day, we can't be going through another debt crisis, a debt ceiling crisis like we did in 2011. that has to be dealt with. so, i think businesses are going to be ready to hire. we're seeing pretty strong consumer confidence despite weaknesses in europe and even in asia. i think america is poised to take off. stuart: well, the republicans are set to respond today when speaker boehner goes in front of

the cameras. will he show signs of retreat or any sign of compromise? remember, the president wants higher tax rates. will john boehner try to move the line that the president has drawn? we will have it for you live here on "varney & company" starting around ten o'clock eastern. then we have darden restaurants, the parent of olive garden, red lobster. it says its businesses could be hurt by bad publicity. darden said it might cut hours for some workers in order to avoid having to provide health insurance for them under obamacare. and a rift in the liberal media because of that. it might be a stretch in my opinion and maybe a stretch people saying they'll stop going to restaurants because of it. and a debate on that. darden, obamacare later in the hour. and breaking news from citigroup, too, it's cutting 11,000 jobs, it calls it part of its repositioning. it says it will save a billion dollars a year and the stock is going to be up at the opening bell. hope for the best, but plan for

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>> all right. we've got the adp report on private sector employment. only 118,000 jobs created in november. that's in the the private sector, okay? however, clearly that was affected by the big storm, sa y sandy. should have been much higher and will have been much higher when the full effects are wiped away. no impact on the stock market that i could see. the dow industrials are going to probably open right around that 1 13,12950. the opening trend is down, but not much in the opening seconds. now down 2 points. not much movement. however, i've got to tell you about facebook, following very, very closely. facebook is going to join the nasdaq 100 index. it will join one week from today. nicole, you're on the floor, normally that pushes the stock price way up and yes, it's up today. >> yes, i'm going to say that we'll take it with a grain of

salt no. a couple of things to note. going into the nasdaq 100, going into facebook and infosys leaving the nasdaq and going to n ych nyse. and they listed at the exchange, one of the perks, too, it's nonfinancial firms and a big one, facebook is 30 billion. another thing to note here, it's usually the s&p 500, stuart, that will really give shares a boost because the traders really mimic the s&p 500. but google didn't get in until at least two years of trading. we'll see on facebook. stuart: if i run a fund that mimics the nasdaq 100 i've got to buy facebook because it's part of the nasdaq 100 i've got to buy it and mutual fund people will have to do that. but still a jump. 38, 40 cents, that's it? but a recent run recently

anyway. >> it's up 50% since early november. you're right. when you mimic the fund. more people are going to buy the s&p 500. when they get there and then we'll talk. 50% for a company like facebook. and the dow stills are up 16 early going. the stock price of netflix, made a deal with disney, exclusive rights to run its movies. first, the analysts say the deal is maybe too expensive. 300 million dollars a year and that's big bucks there, the stock is down a little and by the way, doesn't start until 2016. remember, please, netflix stock up 25% this year, and look how netflix has done just the past couple of days and it's a nice spike as of yesterday afternoon when the news was announced, okay. i want to show you the share price of best buy as well. this morning, it announced, it,

too, is moving up the dividend by three days and paying it on new year's eve. and the point is they're paying it this calendar year. and the stock is up just a little bit, and i'm surprised at that. i thought it would be up more than a. by the way, there are now 200 major corporations that have had an early dividend payout. and a possible tax increase next year, may be coming, of course, 200 plus companies have already paid or are going to pay the dividend this year. so, let's bring in doug schoen, still a democrat. former advisor to president clinton and i see this as a tax revolt and i see this as hipocracy. this is rich ceo's, rich board members saying, we don't want to pay the tax the rich tax next year, we're going to pay it to ourselves this year, doug, hipocracy. >> i see it as by businessmen basing an unpalatable and untenable fiscal condition in

washington where both parties, particularly the democrats are failing to come up with reasonable tax reform. stuart: but you've got a smile on your base because now i'm right. jim singel, founder of costco pays himself $7 a share and borrows the money to do it he's a huge obama supporter. >> well, now that's a different kettle of fish, stuart. borrowing money that they don't have in their kitty to pay a dividend to reduce tax, that's tax manipulation. stuart: which a tax which he favors and went to the democratic convention and argued for. >> i can't efend him, his company or his actions, but i can tell you, stuart, this is a reason why our political system is letting down ordinary people because it does allow the wealthy empowered take advantage of a system because the elites are not solving our problems. stuart: well, the elite never

solve our problems, you know that. >> sometimes they do. >> no, no, no, what you're saying it's a back door argument for tax the rich. >> it's actually a back door argument for reducing taxes, limiting deductions and having a rational tax reform policy in the context of entitlement reform. >> that was romney's plan. lower tax rates, cut some deductions and what are you doing. >> bowles simpson, a democrat. he did the deal with the newt gingrich and bill clinton. you c . stuart: stop smiling. >> every democrat sitting right% there has said the same thing. remember bill clinton. he raised tax rates and it sent off a boom. you don't agree with that? >> i do agree with it, but he also reformed welfare. he was also willing to rein in modestly entitlements and do things on a comprehensive basis,

it worked and paid huge dividends. stuart: i've got 30 seconds. >> yes. stuart: are we going to get a fiscal cliff avoid dan deal? >> we may get some form of a deal. we are not going to get a real deal. i think the economy is going to be hurt and i think both sides, especially the president deserve blame. stuart: who will get the blame? >> the republicans clearly are going to get the blame and hurting themselves. stuart: but we may go into a much slower economy and hurts the president. >> bad news for the president and even worse news for the the american people. stuart: i agree with that. all right, doug, not bad the at all. >> still a democrat. stuart: is that a tag line to every interview? >> it may well be. doug, thanks very much indeed. >> the so the president has made it very, very clear, drawn a line, no fiscal cliff deal without higher tax rates for the highest earningers, tax rates have got to go up. question, what will speaker boehner have to say about that? his reaction will be new at ten this morning. mark stein is going to be here

as well and he'll join us to explore that and more. we have an oil and mining deal to tell, but. freeport mcmoran and copper and gold will have exploration and two separate deals for 9 billion in cash and stock. i'm not quite sure what all of that means. just tell me the stock price, nicole. >> it means big moves for these two stocks here. freeport mcmoran is now down over 15%, but when you look at plains exploration and production, a big mover to the upside and that's up 23. stuart: i'm trying to get this. freeport mcmoran, they're the ones that are doing the buying and plains exploration are the people who are being bought. so the people who are being bought go up because they're paying a high price and the people who are paying the money out are going down. have i got that roughly right? >> that's right. and that's why you see mcmoran exploration as well and i'm

trying to work this out and complicate itself. all i want to see if the stock price moves. >> it's a big one. >> by the way, the dow industrials just hit 13,000, a gain of 50 points as we speak. 13,002. to be precise. and coming up this wednesday morning, bob costas admits he made a mistake addressing gun control during half time show of the sunday night football game. he says he should have done it when he had more time to flesh out his point of view. well, we'll be discussing that one. president obama says a deal will not happen without higher tax rates on the rich. kirsten powers, who i think has shifted to the right just a little recently, kirsten powers will be with us and defend the president's position. the city of huron, south dakota wants to ban eating while driving. all rise, the judge will have something to say about that. what can you legislate. what can you regulate in terms of behavior when you're driving.

no eating? we want to hear from you e-mail us at varney@foxbusiness.com. and seven early movies.tibco so and pandora, bad news, down it goes. citi cutting 11,000 jobs and going to save a billion bucks a year. up a buck 30 on that one. seismic equipment supplier named mitchum, posted what's described as a surprise loss. down 17%. and a defense contractor, posted higher profits. better than expected. maker of tommy bahama and lilly pulitzer brands. and disappointing, down you go, 12% down there and then facebook, joining nasdaq 100 one week from today. it's down 13, but it's at 27

now. work hard, all your life and build up an estate and leave it to your kids, and like to. the government takes, and attorneys say what to do to avoid it. first, christmas music from mark stein, i don't know why my picture is up there. that's mark stein and he's singing, not me. ♪ male announcer ] at scottrade, you won't just find us online you'll also find us in person, with dedicated support teams at over 500 brancs nationwide. so when you call or visit, you can ask for a name you know.

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>> detroit, we're told, is on the verge of bankruptcy, but one member of the city council thinks the president should step

in and lend a hand, otherwise known as a bailout. yeah, let's call it what it is, a bailout, a call for a bailout from the obama team. city council member joan watson said yesterday, we voted for you and now give us a quid pro quo, why not? roll the tape. >> and our team in an overwhelmingly supported the reelection of this president and ought to be quid pro quo and ought to exercise leadership on that. stuart: we voted for you, now, pay up. nearly 75% of wayne county voters went for obama in november. obvious question, will california, illinois, who voted big time for the president, will they join the bailout line next? don't know, good question. check the big board, we're up 50 points. the dow industrials standing there at 13,000. check the price of oil, we are down a fraction today. $88 a barrel. now, attention all estate planners, your clients think the

death tax going to be particularly vicious starting january the 1st. i want to know what are people doing now to keep their money in the family? joining the company is estate planning attorney, did i get that right, the estate family attorney. >> yes. stuart: you're an estate family attorney. we put something on the screen there, 55%. >> yes. stuart: we think that's going to be the top tax on estates next year, we don't know that. >> we don't know anything about what's actually going to happen. stuart: do you know the thresh-- is it 3 million, 1 million? what is it. >> if no one does anything, the cliff so to speak, a million dollars is the threshold of exclusion and the exclusion from a 55% tax rate. stuart: hold on a second. if we go over the cliff. if you have an estate valued at more than a million dollars and you pass away, everything over a million is taxed at 55%? >> that's correct. >> 55%? >> that's correct. stuart: if i've got an estate of 2 million dollars and i pass away, my estate is taxed

$550,000 comes out of it? >> that's why it's a cliff. >> due and payable right now. >> splats on the ground at that rate. stuart: what are you doing to plan for this? >> nobody believes that's going to last more than a minute. if it was, the devastation would be across the board and quite frankly, it would hurt the middle people the worst. you know, it gets back to the whole question of, there's a huge difference between a millionaire and a billionaire. a person who has an estate of 2 million dollars is totally vulnerable to what's going on in congress right now. but they're not watching the news, not paying that much attention because they don't feel the impacts. you know, the theory-- >> what are you telling your clients. they come to you, i've got 10 million dollars, help me out. >> it depends who they are and their family circumstances, including their age, their spouse's age, their children's anal. their children's life circumstance because remember, you're talking about tax planning is right now tax guessing.

stuart: yeah, i know. >> and you can't be uessing-- >> are you telling them watch out, watch out because it's possible that anything over a million will-- you'll lose 55% of it? are you telling them that. >> i tell them my personal opinion it's not going to happen. my personal opinion it's not going to be a million 55. that's my personal opinion. >> okay. >> i think that people who jump the gun. >> what's your opinion. what's it going to be? what's it going to be? >> my sense was, the last time we had this discussion for the 2010 law, remember. stuart: i remember. >> i said 3.5, that made sense from economists, made sense from the irs doing analysis on tax returns. that's what made sense. he they came out with 5 million so i was wrong and it was an an illogical numbers and there could be illogical numbers applied again. >> is it true you cannot put off forever the estate tax? you can delay it. >> taxes are deferral.

you quick the can down the road and you hope you have a better tax situation or you have spent your money, for instance. people who are 40 can't do the same planning as people who are 70. stuart: hold on a second, i pass away and i pass away let's say 10 million to my children. and i do it, and i've been planning for it. and there's know tax when i pass away. the whole 10 million goes to the kids, but eventually, they have to pay taxes. >> that's right. this is-- when do they pay tax on it? >> when? >> they will pay tax on things when he they sell them. when they die, when they try to move things around and to me, it's basically a card game that you're playing out for a long period. which is why practitioners who are planning are kind of guessing that. >> i'm going to give you a commercial, if i come to you, you can make sure that i, if i've got 10 million will pass the entire 10 million onto the kids. you can do that for me. >> i can't do that. >> what i can do is help you

navigate between the decisions are that tax driven and-- >> i don't want the navigation. >> you need that these are long-term decisions for your family. now what makes a difference between family decisions one effects the people you love. >> i want to pass along my estate intact to my heirs. and you can't help me? >> i could help you, but with some parameters of not knowing what i'm actually flipublishingr you. >> janet, it was a pleasure. >> thank y. >> and time for the gold report, please. let's do it. and your price of gold this morning is 1,698 precisely just under 1700 and the parent company of the the olive garden and red lobster says bad publicity may hurt its business next year, come on, mr. people real boycott the olive garden because of stance on obamacare really? or could it be you're just not eating there because it's not authentic italian food? i don't know. oh, listen to the studio

audience here, all right, charles payne and sandra smith are next. ♪

>> all right. quickly to the story. darden restaurants, parent of

olive garden and red lobster, says it might cut hours for workers having to provide them under obamacare and ripped in the media for that. because, and it says, what negative publicity has affected the outlook for business next year. charles, let's start with you. i don't think that people will boycott olive garden because of adverse publicity about the providing health care for the employees. i'm not buying it. charles: i'm buying it 1,000%. listen, this is the same media to got president obama elected and now the same media that's going to brow beat anybody who goes against the agenda. and he says it's going to hurt us, we don't know to what degree, but no doubt about it the negative media coverage that focused on darden in the food segment service because we have to accommodate health care is going to impact our bottom line. stuart: are you sure it's because olive garden does not serve authentic italian food.

>> and we're going to change where we eat at, we're going to choose to disregard the restaurants doing this. cheesecake factory, ovdave overton, he's doing the same thing. we have to cut elsewhere. >> and an organization, do you think that cheesecake-- >> every company that talked about this during the election, their brand identity plunged and the ceo's have been begging and pleading with the public, maybe we'll try something different. be careful. stuart: next, we hear from speak h er boehner, and raising taxes on the rich, he insists we do that, what will speaker boehner say. and a cartoon rich person out of california, urinating on the poor, on the middle class, this is from a teacher's union. we'll talk about it, new at 10. d a little bit more...

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stuart: new at 10:00, house speaker john boehner will speak at any moment. his first public remarks since president obama drew a line in the sand insisting on raising tax rates on the rich. no deal without that. we hear from mr. boehner short lil' -- shortly. when he starts to speak, you will hear it live. also new at 10:00, an 8 minute cartoon video from a teacher's

union in california that shows among other things a rich man urinating on the poor and the middle class. this is what the class warfare rhetoric has evolved into the formerly golden state. yep, believe me, we will have more on that later this hour with california resident mike reagan. to the big board, we're right at 13,000, a gain of 51 points in the early going this wednesday morning. here's our company, charles payne is here. sandra smith is back. and nicole petallides on the floor of the new york stock exchange. and mark stein, conservative columnist supreme, author and christmas carol singer joins us as well. welcome to the program. president obama says i'm going to insist on raising tax rates on the rich. it is my opinion that the president wants to punish the rich. you say? >> yeah, there's not enough of the rich. this isn't about the economy for him. this is essentially about his view of government. he believes in the state being a

certain size, and so what's important to him is that he finds money to support that. so he starts with the rich, but basically if you are not rich, if you are middle class, if you just go and do an average paying job, you're going to be stuck with the costs of this size of government too. there's no way to avoid that. stuart: so you are saying look the president wants to expand government no matter what. >> yes. stuart: and we've all got to pay for it. not a question of making the rich pay for it because there's not enough money amongst the rich. everybody ends up paying. >> basically we're a point shy of canadian spending. stuart, you think of yourself as a limited government. i'm a canadian i think of myself as a socialist. there's one point of government spending between us now. that's what obama has done to america. stuart: it's that close? >> 41% in the united states.

42% in canada. charles: they have been dropping their taxes dramatically, an economic miracle there. >> they don't have sub prime mortgages there. and they've got -- they paid down the debt during the 90s which went you ask anybody in washington, you say it's like 16 trillion dollars do you think maybe it will be 12 trillion at one point, 4 trillion -- look in their eyes, they have no intention of paying this stuff down. stuart: look, the rich who are largely -- not largely but some wealthy people in america really support president obama's tax the rich policy. and yet now, those same rich people are paying themselves dividends via their companies early to avoid the tax the rich tax next year. >> yeah, look at what they do, not at what they say. some are paying the dividends early. some are announcing oh, no, we voted for obama, but we can't

afford to actually implement the obama care proposals. and some of them just go the the whole -- like a big-time democratic supporter who went to the u.k. [inaudible]. basically the u.s. wealthy are making their arrangements. they understand what's happening here. stuart: you realize both of us with british accents both of us talking about the americans. there's two americans right there. >> that's the american dream. anybody can get off the boat at ellis island and 48 hours later they are telling you americans everything what's wrong with your country. what a great country. charles: i think a lot of people step off the boat embrace what america is all about more than

people who are actually born in this country. i think we keep complaining that the wealthy, on the buffett end, yeah they support obama because it helps their guilt and they could afford it. the other wealthy, the 250,000, they are stuck between a rock and a hard place. to mark's point, anyone out there who does not think that at some point we're going to come around 200,000, 150,000. stuart: hold on a second. under obama care the taxes which will pay for it go into effect on january 1st, three, four weeks from now, that will hit people who make $200,000 a year, not 250, not 350, $200,000 a year. charles: right the taxes on medical devices is a de facto tax on every single person who visits a hospital every person who hopes to be saved one day by medical science. all these taxes are out there. the ultimate point why are they so rigid on this 250? they have to go lower to ultimately fund this giant government. >> yeah, 250, 200 still sounds

high to a lot of people watching this, but basically if you're earning upwards of $40,000, the burden of paying for obama-sized government will fall on you. and the point is, then, it becomes harder to get from earning 40 grand to earning 80 grand to earning 150. we will have a latin american situation where you will have a privileged elite still vacationing at martha's vineyard and you will have a huge great dysfunction underneath but no middle class. charles: that vacation elite will be the men and women of wisdom that went to harvard with obama and they do the best they can. sandra: what i think is most disconcerting going back to mark's original point is none of this seems to be about the economy. the president isn't stepping forward and saying what is this going to do for job creation in the country, how it is going to pay off the 16 trillion dollars debt. we have companies today that are looking at obama care, we just talked about darden and cheesecake factory, they are talking about lessening full

time workers, going to part time, in the environment where we're looking at 8% unemployment, this isn't about solving the economy. it's very obvious now. stuart: all politics all the time, it is redistribution, it's neo-socialism, forget what it will actually do to economic growth, no, what will it do for my political legacy? >> that's the point. it's advancing the causes of bureaucracy and dependency. so you have people who they no long very a full-time job. they have a part-time job. they need more government benefits you need a bigger bureaucracy to administer it. i'm not a big government fan. if you catch say the euro train on the continent two hours from brussels, that's pretty good, if you want government spending, here's something to show for it. there's nothing to show for it here except the department of bureaucratic compliance. charles: this was a big beef with the stimulus package.

they are like -- they built a bridge that took me to stuart and it took them two years to do it. charles: hold on a second. i have to go to nicole, a bank announced they are cutting 11,000 positions? they are repositioning the company? nicole, the question is what's with the stock? nicole: the stock is moving significantly, up about 4% on a day where banking index higher. citigroup announcing 11,000 job cuts, 4% of the workforce. the savings will be roughly 1.1 billion dollars. they will be taking some pretax charges to the fourth quarter earnings of a billion. but this is basically reducing excess. and we should note this is the first move by the new ceo, michael corbatt. everybody had been waiting tt see when he would reduce excess and do exactly that. you see the stock up 4 1/4%. stuart: thank you very much indeed, nicole. gun control back into the

national discourse following the murder suicide involving kansas city chiefs player. that was over the past weekend. nbc's bob costas used sunday night football as a platform to quote an article written: saying if belcher didn't have a fun -- if belcher didn't have a gun, he and his girlfriend wouldn't have died. what do you make of this, mark? >> if you say you're no longer a functioning fully formed individual citizen capable of making his own choices about healthcare, the next step from that is to say well, if you pump 9 bullets into your wife, you're not really responsible for that. we need to change the laws. we need to eliminate the 2nd

amendment. because one guy puts nine bullets into his wife, we need to change the laws for 300 million people. he did this. there's is a lack of -- the great issue, not just in the united states, but in the western world, is the urge to dodge personal responsibility. this guy is the beneficiary of one of the wealthiest most successful societies on earth. you should be responsible for your healthcare, and you should also be responsible if you go bananas and kill your wife, that's on your shoulders too. stuart: but you can't win an election telling the world, telling your country, your voters that you've got to be responsible for yourself, for your healthcare, take responsibility. we're going to cut this. you can't get elected in america these days. >> and this is the great issue. a book was written in 1908, the author said if you have big government, you basically end up with a nation of children.

he wrote this, and that's essentially what we have now, a nation of adolescents where you're no longer responsible for it. it's just somehow society is -- and this guy -- this guy killed his wife. it's his fault. i'm a gun owner. what this guy did has nothing to do with me. stuart: where do you live? >> i live in new hampshire where we used to -- [talking over each other]. >> they want bigger welfare checks to spend at the gun store. that's what is great about america. stuart: it's bananas, not bananas. >> okay. stuart: are you an anna wintour or something? >> oh, great. stuart: last point. charles: a book called the time machine, you go fast forward in history the people who had no responsibilities forgot how to

do everything -- the lack of accountability cuts across all of this stuff. nike puts out a $200 sneaker and it is nike's fault that people run over security guards and kill them for these sneakers. i think you can campaign. it can't be someone worth 300 million whose father was a millionaire. someone can get this message across. it was done before. if it's not done, we're all going to sink. stuart: excellent stuff. mark steyn would you come back and visit us? you're the christmas carol guy, aren't you? that music we played earlier. >> yeah, yeah. it used to be that my political commentary had to subsidize my music career. but since november 6th my music career has to subsidize my political commentary. >> thank you very much.

stuart: now one city wants to prevent you from eating in your car. is there no end on how far they will go to control your behavior? the judge will be here and we're still waiting for reaction from speaker boehner to president obama's very hard-line stance on you must raise tax rates.

stuart: we are all keeping a close watch on the companies that have announced early dividend payments. best buy, that was the latest. they announced early this

morning. special tax dividend of 17 cents per share. they will pay it just before the year ends, december 31st. let's see where shares of best buy are, up nearly 2%. the luxury brand coach announced it will move its quarterly dividend from january to december, paying 30 cents per share. that's another early payment. and the teen clothing company, american eagle outfitters also jumping on the bandwagon which includes more than 200 names that are paying their dividend early. american eagle is actually down a bit. some sad news to report from the news corporation family. mother of news corporation's chief executive rupert murdoch died today at the age of 103. newscorp is the parent of the fox business network. to get a list of equity option.. evaluate them with our p&l calculator... and execute faster with our more intuitive trade ticket.

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stuart: a city in south dakota wants to ban eating while driving. can they do that? all rise, judge andrew napolitano, may i remind he's the author of the book "theodore and woodrow". the judge is here. now, this really is a question of to what degree can authorities regulate your behavior while driving? i can understand no texting. i can understand no talking on the phone. i've got all of that. >> you know, i object to all of that. if a person can text or can talk on the phone or can drive and eat and continue to drive

safely -- stuart: judge, hold on a second. i'm sorry. speaker boehner is about to respond to president obama's demand that we raise tax rates. listen in, please. >> and it's exactly how we approached our discussions in the biden group, my discussions at the white house a year and a half ago, and for that matter in the joint select committee. and if the president doesn't agree with our proposal and our outline, i think he's got an obligation to send one to the congress and a plan that can pass both chambers of congress. if you look at the plans that the white house has talked about thus far, they couldn't pass either house of the congress. we're ready and eager to talk to the president and to work with him, to make sure that the american people aren't disadvantaged by what's happening here in washington. >> good morning. you know, i think at this point pretty much most folks in the country and certainly in this

town know where both sides are on taxes. i think we understand that. but to the speaker's point, we have not had any discussion and any specifics with this president about the real problem -- stuart: speaker boehner is the principal negotiator, vis-a-vis the president on how to avoid the fiscal cliff or what we should do about tax increases and spending cuts. if mr. boehner is the principal negotiator, what he had to say lasted all of 30 seconds. he simply came out and said look, if the president doesn't agree with our plan, the republican plan, he should submit a plan that could pass through congress. he has failed to do that. he said, however, and he used these words, that speaker boehner and the republicans are ready and eager to negotiate with the president. doesn't sound like there's any degree of compromise there. there's an extremely short statement, really didn't say much of anything. that's it, speaker boehner. mr. cantor is now speaking. again, he's keeping it very very

short and very much to the point. but the principal negotiator had all of 30 seconds. that's it. we brought it to you live. back to the judge. >> well i was sort of hoping he would say no new taxes no new spending no new borrowing, draw a line in the sand, do what you were sent there to do. they are becoming enablering of obama -- they are becoming enablers obama is spending us into oblivion. stuart: if john boehner takes any questions, we will go back to it. we're going to concentrate on speaker boehner because he's the principal negotiator. i didn't make much of that and i don't think you did either. >> i was disappointed he didn't make a counteroffer or didn't say here's what we will do, here's what we will never do. stuart: should he be negotiating in front of the cameras? >> the president does it.

stuart: what you are saying is do not cave on anything. right? i mean that's your position. >> not anything substantial. obviously you can compromise on things that are not substantial, but new taxes, new borrowing and new spending, that's substantial. stuart: would you be prepared to see republicans take the blame and they will get the blame if we fail to get an agreement and we go into recession? >> well, if they know how to deal with this properly, they so-called fiscal cliff is a piece of legislation, enacted by a republican house, a democratic senate and signed by a democratic president. stuart: you cannot fight the establishment media which is unified in blaming the republicans. >> my dear stuart, we work for an entity that for 16 years has successfully fought the establishment media, called fox. of course you can take them on. stuart: all around the table, you give me your honest

judgment. you really think that if we go over the cliff, there's no agreement, and we go into recession, the republicans will not get the blame. you think they will not get the blame? >> -- because they don't know how to defend themselves. they don't know how to point the finger at the president who couldn't get a budget through a democratic house and a democratic senate. stuart: they are politicians. they are republicans. and they will get the blame. do you agree with that? sandra: it is still obama's last term and it's still -- the success of that term is still on his shoulders. i think the republicans will be at large to blame. however, he's still the president. if we go into recession under his watch, we can still blame him. >> thank you, sandra. [laughter] stuart: all kinds of stuff in my ear here. >> boehner was talking to you. [laughter] stuart: here's what i think, republicans -- if we go over the cliff, we enter a recession, the economy slows down, republicans get the blame short-term. they will just pile the blame right on them. however, within a year, it will be seen as obama's recession. >> there you go. stuart: and it may just ruin his

second term. that's what i think. charles: i agree with that, but not necessarily the time line. stuart: i'm sorry we had such little time. >> i got to jump in on something more substantial on whether i can eat pizza while i'm driving. [laughter] charles: i was curious about the answer. stuart: it used to be that a house in a good neighborhood is the best investment you can make. some people say that's no longer the case. i will have my take on it next. hi, i'm phil mickelson.

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>> you either pay the taxes at the current rate because you're bargaining against the future being a higher tax rate or you kick the can down the road and you hope that will you have a better tax situation. stuart: okay. that was in our last hour on the rise of estate taxes starting january the 1st. we don't know how much they are going up and what the threshold will be. so you are trying to estate plan in a total vacuum. however, right now we're going to check the market. the big board shows a 30 point gain, just shy of 13,000 for the

dow. and to nicole, here's a story, apple, i think it is down 20 bucks? what's going on? nicole: not good news here if you're an apple shareholder. you don't want to hear this big picture outlook from international data corp. looking particularly at the ipad and the ipad mini that they may lose market share to some of the devices that run on google's android platform for the full year. this is according to the research that was done by international data corp. they also noted, stuart, you may be interested in this that tablets running on microsoft's operating system would also grab market share from both apple and also the android. so this is very interesting. it's just talking about the intense competition that apple faces in this tablet market. and giving it -- just losing market share overall. that's not good news going forward for apple. as a result down over 20 bucks at the moment. stuart: that's a drop and a half.

nicole, thank you very much indeed. california was once great. it was the golden state. but now something has happened. listen to comedian adam carolla describe it. >> california honestly is like a hot blonde high school chick who has been getting by on her looks, never having to study, not having to exercise or eat right, just a beautiful genetic hand, a beautiful ocean, beautiful mountains, beautiful weather, and now she's 45 and she's falling apart. stuart: new video from the teachers union may further that argument. we will show it to you when our voice of reason in california mike reagan joins us atat0:45. i do not give specific investment advice. it's not what we do on varney & company, and besides i'm the guy who invested in microsoft. you wouldn't want a stock tip from me now, would you?

having said that, here is my take on real estate. i still think a single family home in a solid neighborhood is a good investment. think about it, taxes on dividends, interest and capital gains, almost certainly going up, so get a dividend payment and a tax bite goes up. sell a stock, sell a bond, and the tax goes up. but a house? no dividend, no interest, and if there is a capital gain, it's long-term, and you choose when to pay the tax. plus, home prices remain low, and the cost of borrowing for that mortgage is the lowest on record. so you can buy cheap and let your profit accumulate, tax-free, and you have a few write-offs when the tax bill does come due. i don't know what's going to happen to stocks or gold or bonds, and i really don't know what's going to happen to housing either, but when you look at prices now and taxes in the future, i think i can make a case for a single family home as

a solid investment, if it's in a solid neighborhood. one last thing, they haven't touched the mortgage interest deduction, yet. want to try to crack it? yeah, that's the way to do it!

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offering some of its employees up to two years pay to leave the company starting next year. the voluntary program is part of an effort to cut costs by 1.7 billion dollars per year. fedex stock, no change, 88 bucks a share. now joining the company from chicago is our next guest. the headline for the day is president obama has drawn a line in the sand, he says there isn't a deal on the fiscal cliff unless you raise tax rates on the rich, very important, tax rates on the rich. what do you make of that? >> well, first of all, in some ways, you have to say that the big spending, big government liberals are winning this debate, because they have reframed the entire discussion about revenues. listen, washington has a spending problem, and as long as we kind of misdirect this discussion and we only talk about taxes, then we never discuss any meaningful reform in

entitlements. we never discuss spending. so from this standpoint, the left is absolutely winning this argument, because that's what you and i are talking about right now, tax revenue. there is not a revenue story. -- this is not a revenue story. it is a spending story. >> thank you, you are right sir, yet again. thank you very much indeed. let's bring in kirsten powers. she joins us from washington. kirsten, welcome to the program. i don't think you have been on before, have you? >> good morning, i don't think so. though i've always wanted to be invited. stuart: okay. i watch you all the time, and i detect a slight -- [inaudible] >> no, i'm sorry. stuart: especially on benghazi, you're moving and i think you are moving also on this fiscal cliff debate. here's the question: >> okay. stuart: why are we not discussing and why has the president not put out a serious entitlement reform plan? because i mean i think we can both agree on this, it is

entitlement, specifically medicare that's really busting america's bank. so why no firm plan from the president? >> well, i think that he needs to do that. obviously all the talks we have about all the different cuts that even the republicans bring up are not going to do anything unless we address defense spending and entitlement spending. and so i think that the president should put forth a plan. however, i also think the republicans need to put forth a plan, especially because they say they are the party of cutting spending, and so you can't really complain about there are not being cutting when they are not putting forth -- they have now put forth a general counterproposal but doesn't specify what cuts they want. stuart: we can discuss all day long about that, but i mean paul ryan did have a very specific plan. he didn't win the election. he certainly did have a plan. >> it is not one that romney backed really. stuart: that's true. i do see a little drift here, a little drift here. at least you're prepared to admit that the president should

put forward a reform plan. so let's move on to the issue of tax rates. >> okay. stuart: do you think the president is right to absolutely insist on tax rate increases? he won't tolerate reductions in deductions. he won't do that. no, it must be tax rates. will you defend that? >> well, i think he has the upper hand in the sense that seen, americans say they support raising taxes on the wealthy, so i think he feels that he has a mandate on that issue. look, i feel if the republicans are willing to make up that revenue another way, he should be open to that. i don't think it has to come from raising taxes. it could come -- stuart: the republicans have put forward a plan to raise 800 billion dollars over ten years. >> right. stuart: that's not by raising rates. that's by restricting de -- deductions. >> sure, i think that's acceptable. think the president is in a

situation where he has his base wanting to see the rates go up. because two times he compromised and kept the bush tax cuts, and i think they feel now it's their turn and they should have the tax rates go up. stuart: the trouble is it's all politics. who is going to win politically? >> i agree with that. stuart: i'm coming from a different direction. i want the best policy which will grow america's economy and give us some prosperity. and my judgment is very clear. the best way to do that is to lower tax rates, restrict deductions. that's i think how you do it. >> yeah. stuart: i agree that that plan was defeated in the last election. can you make the economic judgment, what do you think is the best way to give us growth? >> well, i'm not an economist. i don't think that raising -- putting the tax rates back to the clinton level -- clinton era level is going to harm the economy. but if you could not raise taxes and you could make it up another way, i do think that's the better way to go. and, you know, i think the

president is now appealing a little bit to the base on insisting on it has to be the tax rates, when he should be open to -- and maybe he will be -- this could just be a negotiating tactic, he should be open to the idea of closing loopholes eliminating deductions and making up the revenue in another way. stuart: i was right. >> you're very sensitive to drifting. stuart: i have never been described as sensitive before, but i do appreciate the compliment. i hope you will come again. will you? >> absolutely. >> stuart: thank you very much. we appreciate it. >> thank you. stuart: the california teachers union has sunk, and i'm going to say to a new low. a cartoon video about taxes and the rich, and it shows a rich person urinating on poor people. more on that next with mike reagan.

stuart: president obama will not budge on raising tax rates on the rich. speaker boehner responded to that this morning with a very brief statement, almost a bust, saying the president has an obligation to come up with a plan that would pass congress. not much response from the market. in fact zero response from the markets at all. citigroup shares moving this morning. citi announced plans to lay off, cut, 11,000 jobs worldwide. it will save more than a billion dollars in expenses. citi calls the job plan a repositioning of the company. the stock is up 4%. netflix down again after

announcing a massive deal with disney that gives netflix exclusive rights to run disney movies first. investors don't like the cost of the deal. 300 million dollars a year. doesn't even begin till 2016. the stock is down. mike reagan is next with a new low -- i'm calling it a new low reached by the california teachers' union. mike reagan is next on that.

stuart: you've got to take a look at this video out of california. it's incredible. it is from the teachers' union.

>> because it will trickle down from us to you. some day you will be rich and then the rules we made for us will be your rules too. some people weren't so sure about this so the rich people bought newspapers and tv and radio stations and internet companies and paid them to repeat over and over some day you will be rich too. there is no alternative. stuart: all right. that was ed asner's voice by the way. it was a cartoon pitch, a person urinating on the poor and middle class. this is from the teachers' union. mike reagan joins us now from los angeles. mike, i'm calling that a new low and i'm sure you are going to agree with me. >> oh, absolutely right. reminds me back in the 30s and 40s, in the former soviet block, they used to teach from uncle tom's cabin to keep the children in line. now, we're going to be teaching from this cartoon through ed asner to the children to have

them grow up to be angry and mad at, you know, those people who in fact are there who helped them get a greater and better education. the person who ran proposition 32, which was the union proposition here in california in the last election, well, he lost. so jeff miller is moving to texas as are many other people moving to texas as we raise taxes in california, 13.3% for those making $200,000 a year. it is already at 9.8% if you make 48,000 a year. stuart: you know, in a moment we're going to be talking about the city of detroit, a city council woman made a public appeal for a bailout from president obama. hey, she said, detroit voted overwhelmingly for president obama, now give us the money because we're very nearly bankrupt. it occurs to me that, you know, we said this before the election. when will california ask for federal help, a bailout of sorts because you are in such dire straits and you did vote by 20 points for president obama?

is a bailout request still on the cards? >> well, think about this, there's now a two thirds majority in the state assembly and state senate. the republicans can stay home and drink lattes for the next couple of years and just receive their checks because they have absolutely no power in the state of california. so can the state of california now with a two thirds majority ask for a bailout from barack obama? you bet they can. and i will tell you, they most likely will. stuart: really? do you think -- would the country stand for that? okay, i mean, much of the country lost the election in a sense. do you think congress would actually vote the money, really? >> well, listen, the congress -- it doesn't mean they won't ask for money from barack obama. but i will tell you they will most likely ask for money because the people i know are leaving the state to get out of here because they don't want to pay 13.3% in state taxes along with the federal taxes going up

january 1st. people can't afford to live in the state of california. adam carolla is right, i mean the beautiful girl, i don't think she's 45, i think she's more like 85. because the 45-year-old girls still look pretty hot. stuart: well said mike reagan. you bailed me out of a good one there. mike reagan, i'm sorry to cut it short today. i'm literally out of time. mike, always a pleasure. we will see you again soon. thank you, sir. >> thank you. stuart: as we said, here is that detroit city councilmember, joan watson calling for a bailout because detroit voted overwhelmingly for president obama. roll it >> our people in an overwhelming way supported the reelection of this president and there ought to be a quid pro quo and you ought to exercise leadership on that. stuart: roughly 75% of wayne county voters went for mr. obama in november. let's get back to this with the company now. charles, you have a comment on this? charles: so many lines here.

first and foremost, you know what? if you give away, you know, the cow you can't sell the milk, that kind of thing. if you keep voting for the same people over and over, they can take your vote for granted. they will never have to do anything for you. that's the first message. the last republican mayor they had there, 1957 to 62, the city peaked in 1964. the greatest manufacturing city in the world at the time, and it peaked. they have been democrat ever since. they have fallen off a cliff. 40% of the street lights don't work. 33% -- they spent 33% more than they take in. 47% of the people there are functional illiterates. and number two highest violent crime rate of any middle to large-sized city in the country. so you've got a couple things here. you have chosen a path. you said you know what? we like the idea that the democrats are giving to us and you have gone down this path for 50 years and you have nothing to show for it but despair. a bailout is not going to solve your problem. think about what you are doing when you go to vote.

would a bailout be a gift, with someone saying straighten your life out now. stuart: i agree with you. this is surely a larger picture here. if detroit wants it and appeals to the president to get some money because they voted for the president, what about california? what about illinois? what about any other of the states which voted overwhelmingly for president obama and are in dire financial shape? it could open the door. quick comment? sandra: absolutely. i think this could be the big change over the next four years, if you hear more cries for help, and they don't get it, maybe that's when the republican party starts to look pretty good. stuart: that will be interesting. next we will show you the video that sandra smith wishes would just go away. [laughter] sandra: what?

stuart: president obama invited several msnbc hosts to visit the white house yesterday. they were all briefed on his tax plan and how to push his agenda. huffington founder of the huffington post and well known leftist also got to join in on the fun. charles, they didn't invite us. charles: they did not invite us and it gets back to the very first thing we talked about, the media doing the heavy lifting for the president, not just getting him elected but now enforcing his policies, making

sure that people pay. if you don't absorb his social and economic policies, there will be a campaign against you, personally, and against any economic interest that you have. they got their marching orders and they are going to go out there with it. stuart: cozy chat with the president. here's how i want you to sell my tax the rich policy. all right, problems with the boeing dreamliner, the faa now requiring new inspections, citing manufacturing flaws at boeing's plants, causing possible fuel leaks. no real reaction to boeing stock. it's down 76 cents, 1%, that's it. but this does give us an excuse to pull out the video of sandra wearing the goggles. run us through this. you were watching -- you were inside a demo model of the dreamliner, weren't you? sandra: yes. stuart: so you pulled out the goggles because you have to wear them. it was a fantastic plane, wasn't it? sandra: absolutely. there's no doubt about it, the most fuel efficient aircraft that boeing has ever created.

made of mostly composite materials. they had a little bit of a problem. there was a flight from houston to newark airport, they had to land in new orleans. there appears to be a mechanical issue, not saying what it is yet, but the faa is now requiring them to check out every single dreamliner they have put on the market. this plane that they had to land was only 13 days old. stuart: you know, i want to fly in one of them. they are in service. sandra: united has them. stuart: what are you laughing? charles: i was on a plane this week that had the ashtray in the bathroom, that's an old plane. sandra: that's american airlines. charles: that's an old plan. when you have the ashtray in the bathroom, that's an old plane. get nervous. stuart: the great mark steyn was in our studio today. you know he made the highlight reel which is next. right. i've learned the only way to get a holiday deal is to camp out. you know we've been open all night. is this a trick to get my spot? [ mae announcer ] break from the holiday stress. save on ground shipping at fedex office.

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both of us talking about the americans. two americans sitting right there. >> embracing what america is all about. >> this is about solving the economy. >> they support obama because they can afford it. the other wealthy, 250,000, they are stuck between a rock and a hard place. stuart: i have apple down $30. charles: there are some technicians saying it crossed a certain level. it propelled completely out of control. i have heard anywhere between 40 and 50%. stuart: pure speculation. charles: obviously, there is a pile on of fact. stuart: ouch.